The Nigeria Customs Service said the country is losing billions of naira to illegitimate trading activities.
Customs said that smugglers’ continuous sabotage is a drain on the economy especially as more contraband gets intercepted.
TVC News Correspondent, Ifunanya Eze reports that in 2019, the Customs strike force, zone A made several seizures of contraband valued at more than 13.7 billion naira.
Between January and March this year, the task force team has impounded almost 500 million naira seized items across the western zone.
From the showcased seizures, it is apparent that rice smugglers are not relenting in spite of customs continuous interception. False declaration by importers is also a major trade infraction that has led to many seizures. This is the case with the container of jewelry.
Even with government’s absolute prohibition policy on used tyres and clothings, smugglers still persist in trying to beat the system by either concealing them or by making dishonest declarations.